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Monday, 6 April 2015

M is for Mary.

The house of the Virgin Mary near Ephesus in Turkey.

Main entrance to the house. ﻿

The Sacred Chapel.

This is considered to be the last dwelling place of the Virgin Mary. It is believed that Mary was taken there by St John and she lived there until her Assumption . (37-45).

While the site has always been associated with the Virgin, the house was unknown until a German Augustinian nun called Catherine Emmerich, (1774-1824), she had never been to Ephesus yet she had a series of visions which enabled her to give exact directions to the house and a detailed description of it's appearance.

Catherine Emmerich endured a life of suffering. She was a seer who witnessed scenes of the life of Christ with the vividness of one who was there.

In 1891 the Lazarist order of Izmer, found it exactly where, and as she had described it: a brick house of the sixth century, it's foundations dating back to the first century.

In 1967 Pope Paul IV gave the house it's certificate of authenticity and later the house was visited by Pope John Paul the second.

The Virgin's tomb, according to Catherine Emmerich is about a mile from the house but has never been found.

The house is a busy pilgrimage site for the Roman Catholic Church, Muslim and Orthodox Faiths. They gather here for The Assumption of the Virgin on 15th August.

Selcuk Castle overlooking the town

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The House of the Virgin Mary is in a municipal park 8km east of Selcuk, a

delightful town considered to be the modern day Ephesus.

I return again to my favourite place in Asia Minor ....Turkey....It is such a beautiful country, oozing with verdant countryside white sand beaches, ancient history, fabulous architecture, delicious cuisine and the most hospitable people ever. I hope you are enjoying my journey.

Delicious Chicken Kebabs.

Baked Mushroom stuffed Aubergine.

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Beautiful Town and beautiful people.

Hoska kalin.( stay happy).

My thanks to the MARVELLOUS Denise for devising ABCW and the METICULOUS Roger for his memorable administration.

42 comments:

Hi Uppal,Yes indeed 'History revisited'.We are fortunate to live in the UK, which gives us easy access to the foundations of Christianity,The first time we visited Turkey was more for relaxation, swimming in the turquoise waters, dining on the delicious food, and just tootling around: we did all that with great ease, but then,History hit us in the face after our visit to Ephesus.There is so much more to tell....watch this space!Best wishes,Di.ABCW team. and just generally tootling around

Hi Roger.So true, Turkey in particular, is such a MARVELLOUS country with MAGNIFICENT architecture and MOUTH watering cuisine.I'm so delighted to be able to share all MY wonderful MEMORIES with all the ABCW ccontributors.Di.ABCW team.

Ye Ellen, It was amazing how the MOST interesting stories have unfolded during our MANY visits to this MAGNIFICENT country, Turkey!The food really does all the talking doesn't it?You too have a wonderful week,Best wishes,Di.ABCW team.

Thanks Wil for your kind comments. I am so pleased that feel that you are accompanying us on our journeythrough Turkey, just what I intended! I'm pretty sure that you would love Turkey, particularly that you liked classical Greece so much !Best wishes,Di.ABCW team.

Lotus Leaf: Thank you for your kind comments.It is so easy to write about Turkey as it is such an enchanting place to visit.like all large countries it does have it's down side too, Sadly, we've experiencedlittle children begging and gone through places where you wouldn't stop for long.I will write about this when the opportunity arises ,You must visit Turkey, like most countries it has it's socio/eco problems. but I'd go back there tomorrow,given the opportunity, lovely country and delightful kind people. in fact, I wish I was there now!

Hello Arnoldo,I hadn't heard of it either. We were on our way back from our trip to Ephesus when we stopped here..I thought it was perhaps. another tourist trap, as the Turkish guides do have a habit of stopping at carpetmakers and other retail outlets, so this was a complete surprise, needless to say there was a small entrance fee!What we saw and read about was amazing, I felt a feeling of perfect peace there, truly uplifting!When we got home I did some research which authenticated what we had seen and learned that day.Blessings to you my friend.Di.ABCW team.

Debbie at Travel with Intent::Hi thanks for stopping by, glad you found it interesting.That's the great thing about ABCW, we get to learn so much from other people's life experienced.Best wishes.Di.ABCW team

Tulika, thanks for stopping by and your comments. I naturally thought that Mary would have spent her latter years somewhere in The Holy Land, but then, as there was a lot of hostility towards her, she probablydecided to go another country for sanctuary,best wishes,Di.ABCW team

PhenoMenon: thanks for commenting.Turkey is a marvellous place, we saw the hot balloonists floating dreamily over Capadoccia, I'm afraid of heights so didn't feel the urge to join in!Best wishes,Di.ABCW team.

Hello Su-sieee, thanks for stopping by and your comments. There is lots on the internet about Mary and Catherine Emmerich,all fascinating stuff. I was surprised to learn how much the Muslims hold her in great reverence!Best wishes,Di.ABCW team.

Dear Di, I love this. Too many folks forget that Turkey is the birthplace of humanity. Even though I am not an "Adam and Eve" and Garden person, history still traces the first recognizable human beings to this place... then we wandered south into (the rest of) Africa (the Middle East is a Western construct; we are actually Africans!), north to the Caucasus and then west to Europe and east into the rest of Asia, over the stepping stones of Russia into North America...

We are all immigrants! Oooh, now I want some Turkish coffee. My Jordanian-American friend Muna makes the best... Peace, Amy

Hi Amy, lovely to hear from you again, glad you like my article about Turkey and what you say is quite right, we are all immigrants of one race or another.I just don't know why we can't all just rub along, side by side and respect each others creed, colour , race etc.Sadly, it's mainly down to greed, and a built in bigotry of others.My long journey around Turkey has taught me so much about mankind and also educated me in the Muslim way of life. Oooh! Turkish coffee is divine, I drank so much of it on one trip, that I got palpitations so had to reduce my intake!

Meoww: Hello, thanks for stopping by and your kind comments. I'm glad you can see Turkey 'through my eyes', I am so passionate about the country. Each corner you turn there's something new to discover. The food as you have noted is superb, I do a lot of Turkish cookery and I'm particularly fond of Aubergines!Best wishes,Di.ABCW team.

Hi Fritz. I'm glad you're enjoying my historic trip through Turkey, some of it unexpected, as in The Virgin Mary's house.It would be amazing if the archaeologists could find her grave nearby.best wishes,Di.ABCW team.